Dark
by thatblue
Summary: The Doctor and Donna wake up in the dark, and have no memory of how they got there.
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own Doctor Who. I know, I know, it surprised me too.**

He was bleeding. He couldn't see it, but he could feel the warmth flowing down over his face at a somewhat alarming rate. It took his mind a moment to clear enough to focus on anything but the blood but when it did he panicked.

"Donna," he whispered, though he wanted to shout but since he didn't know where they were he thought he should keep quiet.

When there was no response he tried to move and found that though he was a little stiff he wasn't shackled to anything, which didn't rule out a jail cell but it made it much less likely. He crawled around, the dark even too much for his eyes and he couldn't do anything but feel what was beneath his hands. It felt like dirt, but like dirt that had been packed in tightly and that brought him back around to a jail cell. If he got them thrown into another jail, Donna was going to kill him. She had told him so very clearly after the last time that it had happened.

He tried to think back to what they had been doing before this had happened and he found that the memories weren't accessible. Maybe if he could find Donna she would remember. "Donna, please answer me." He was begging but if she called him out on it he would deny it. Donna was the first person he felt like he could be weak around and he felt a little lost without her presence.

He heard a telling grunt and crawled into the direction of it, and it wasn't long before he felt a shoe beneath his hand. He hoped that it was Donna and he moved next to the body and kept his hand sliding hoping to find the face, but a hand stopped him with a strong but soft grip. "Doctor?"

He felt a wave of relief at her voice, the voice that kept him going, and he smiled to the dark. "Yes, it's me."

"Just because I can't see you doesn't mean you can just touch wherever you want."

"Sorry," he told her, "Are you okay?"

He felt her reaching out for him and he moved to try to help her sit up, "Yes, are you? Where are we?"

"I'm fine," he didn't tell her about the bleeding, thinking that it felt like it was slowing and he didn't want her to worry. "I'm really not sure; do you remember what we were doing before this?"

There was a long pause, in which she managed to find his hand again and held on like it was a life line. He held on just at tightly and was so thankful that they were at least they were together. When had he become the Lord of Time that couldn't go on without the comfort of one human woman? "No," she finally told him. I remember you asking me where I wanted to go this morning and then waking up with you getting handsy."

"I wasn't getting handsy. I couldn't see you."

"Right," she muttered, "So what's the plan?"

"Well," he drew out the word hoping that he could think of a plan in the span of four letters.

"You don't have one, do you?"

She knew him a bit too well, "Not right now. Working on it."

"Okay," she told him, calmly. "I trust you."

She didn't have to say that, they both knew that she did, but she did it to reassure him. She was so good at saying the right thing, and lifting him up when he didn't even know that he needed it. That was probably why he had accidently fallen in love with her. He had not set out to do it, in fact told himself that was something he didn't even want. But he couldn't help it.

He noticed it first when he smiled at her attitude when she first woke up, especially if he was the reason. And then he couldn't stop smiling when she gave someone a piece of her mind. And the next thing he knew he didn't want to take a step if she was taking it with him. He never would have imagined feeling like this after Rose, but he did with Donna. She had found a way in, and he never wanted her to leave.

He reached into his coat pocket but wasn't surprised to find that the sonic was gone, which made him think jail again. "I don't have my sonic."

"No," she agreed. "It broke when you fell, remember."

"When I fell?"

"Yeah," she told him and then paused. "I remember us running, as we often do, and then you slipped and fell. The sonic broke in half and I told you to leave it."

He tried hard to think back to that moment, but found he couldn't see it clearly. He could remember running, and that the grass was a green like on Earth but that wasn't where they went. "Do you remember anything else?"

"No," she responded.

He started to speak when he heard a noise, which sounded very much like a growl. He turned to face the noise and tried to work his way in front of Donna but she didn't let go of his hand. She was never one to let him take all the burden, and she didn't let him now, holding on like she had when she had placed her hands over his one horrible day.


	2. Chapter 2

The growling stopped as suddenly as it had started and the Doctor heard a soft thud. He couldn't see anything though, and it was beginning to make him agitated. He couldn't see Donna, couldn't make sure she was really okay, and he couldn't see to protect her from anything.

"You're safe," a soft voice told them. "They think it's funny to throw small animals in here with new prisoners."

"Thanks," he responded to the voice. "Do you know where we are?"

"Yes," he was told and he heard shuffling. "My name is Alion, and you are?"

The Doctor didn't miss that the question of where hadn't been answered but he let it go for now. Though he couldn't see, the voice sounded male and young. "I'm the Doctor and this is Donna."

"I know you can't see, but can you hear anything over there, you are about a foot from the barrier."

The Doctor listened but couldn't hear anything at all, aside from three breathing patterns, that he had been certain had only been two a moment before. "No."

"Good," he could hear the smile.

And with a snap there was a small ball of flame in the center of the floor. The room was still very dim, but the Doctor could see now. They were in what appeared to be a cell, which meant he would have to answer to Donna, but when he looked to where the boy had said the barrier was, he couldn't see anything. He looked back at the boy, who looked like he was maybe sixteen, with eyes that were blue and so light they seemed to glow. His hair was a little long, but his clothes still seemed to be in good shape.

"Where are we?" The Doctor tried again.

The boy, who had been attempting a warm smile, dropped it and let out a sigh. "Straight to business. Normally, a respectable quality. What if I told you that you didn't want to know?"

"I know so many things I don't want to, so out with it," Donna told him but it was kind.

She had adjusted so well, to aliens, creatures, and whatever came their way. But she was only human, and he didn't mean that as a bad thing, and he felt awful as she admitted to knowing things she didn't want to. For all he tried to protect her, the universe had different plans.

"You don't remember anything," the boy dogged.

"No," the Doctor answered giving Donna a reassuring smile, which he probably needed as much as her. "Nothing at all, but you do?"

Alion nodded, "Didn't at first, but it all comes back with time. You are on the planet of Cobro in the Prison of Traitors."

"Why are we here," Donna asked him.

Alion shrugged, "I don't know, just that they brought you last night. I checked you over; you seemed to be stable so I let you be."

"Why are you here," the Doctor asked him.

The boy sighed again, and then stopped, his light eyes going wide. With another snap they were back in the darkness. "Say nothing." Anion whispered. "They are bringing food, and they will go but say nothing."

The Doctor could hear a sound that was similar to paper being torn and then a tray was dropped next to him and Donna, and then at last next to Alion and the same ripping noise and then silence.

The Doctor didn't dare to say anything waiting until Alion spoke first. It seemed like a very long time, but he knew that it was only about two minutes before he heard the snap that relit the ball of fire.

"I'm here," he picked up where he had left off, as though there had been no interruption. "Because this planet is divided into two groups, and I'm not on the side of the group that's in charge."

"Did you try to overthrow the people in charge," Donna asked.

Alion chuckled at the words, though the Doctor wasn't sure if that was because she was right or because she was wrong. "Should have, but no. I'm a Cabro 2, and the people in charge are Cabro 1. Wrong group gets caught existing and you go to the Prison of Traitors."

"One and Two, is that like a social class."

"Not exactly," Alion explained, moving his tray to his lap and motioned for them to do the same. "Eat, trust me, it's for your own good. Anyway, Cabro 2 is a sub-species. There was an accident; it has been about three hundred years now, but the people closest the accident…evolved."

"What kind of accident?" The Doctor picked at his food, he knew that he should be working on figuring out why they were there, though he was now suspecting it was because they were different.

"They were experimenting with a new source of power, well not new, but new for them, trying to use Aliment residue."

"Why would they do that," the Doctor asked. "How did they even get it?"

"What's Aliment residue."

The Doctor turned to her, "It's an energy that only exists of the very border of the universe. It's powerful, very powerful, but hardly stable. And almost impossible to collect."

"Almost," Alion agreed, and the Doctor could see the hurt look that passed over his features. "And even harder than to collect it is to keep it stable. We tried, so hard; most of us didn't even want to be there. Most of us were just kids, and we couldn't stop the explosion. Funny, didn't damage the ship, apparently every last body on that ship, absorbed it."

"That should have killed you," the Doctor told him.

"I guess in a way it did," Alion agreed. "Anyway, we came back. The people left here decided that instead of admitting what had gone wrong we were to be isolated."

"You said that was three hundred years ago," Donna reminded. "You were there?"

"Yes," Alion agreed softly. "I was sixteen; my father thought that it would be my way into the Council. And then when I came back, he wouldn't even look at me."

"So you are three hundred and sixteen?"

Alion looked at her, poking the food on his tray and lifting it to his lips. He chewed slowly, and the Doctor didn't miss the single tear that rolled down his face. He would never be able to understand the injustice that occurred in universe.

"Yes," was the eventual answer. "The explosion stopped the aging process. The only good thing to come from it, the Council thought. There were two thousand of us on the collection team. They experimented on everyone they caught until they were able to extract only that part of the mutation, and now no body ages."

"What about population," Donna asked.

"No children," Alion answered. "There haven't been any children in about two hundred years."


	3. Chapter 3

Alion had fallen into silence and the Doctor let him have a moment. He knew what it felt like to hurt. He thought about the information. The society had made it illegal to have children so that they could all keep on living forever, and he thought how sad they must be now. No little laughter to lighten the day, or innocent smiles to make life just a little better. He may not have that now but he sure could remember it when he did, and he sometimes longed for those moments again so much it hurt.

"What's the punishment for being a traitor?"

Alion looked back up, "Prison…well at least for us. Sure they could kill us, but sometimes life is so much more of a punishment."

And the Doctor knew that as well. All the times he thought about given up. Even those times when he was with Martha and had placed himself at deaths doorstep, he knew that he didn't deserve it. For all the wrong he had done, he didn't get to have peace that easily. No, he had to live. But he had earned that sentence; these lives were being ruined because they were too close to a bad plan.

"You want to die?" Donna asked softly, and the Doctor looked to her. She glanced at him.

He knew that even though the question was direction to Alion she was asking him as well. She never would have brought it up without a catalyst but here it was, and now he owed her an answer. And she wasn't asking, but he would answer, that yes, she was worth living. She had managed to change this punishment into a great gift.

"If this is life," Alion spoke softly, like he was ashamed that he felt like giving up.

"This doesn't have to be life," the Doctor told him. "There is always something to live for."

He looked to Donna with a smile, which spoke the words that he couldn't say. That he had been much too scared to say. But the universe didn't offer the chance for fear, as it took and took. He couldn't lose someone else he loved without them at least knowing it.

"Always," Donna echoed softly giving him a small smile in return.

"Well," the Doctor looked back at Alion, "I suppose we need to work on getting out of here."

He was waiting for Alion to contradict him, to tell him that it was impossible, but he didn't. He just stared at him, as though he had a million things to say but couldn't find the words to speak. The Doctor was going to try to make this right, he had to try. He couldn't leave this world, these innocent people here to suffer, because someone had the idea to collect an energy that should never be touched. Normally he admired the need to explore, to touch things people should only see. But not when it had victims.

"I can get you out," Alion said softly.

Donna and the Doctor looked at him for a moment, before Donna spoke. "And you are just telling us this."

"Donna," the Doctor cautioned, before turning back to Alion. "How?"

"The barrier is a current; if that current is interrupted the system shuts down."

"Interrupted how?"

"It has to be done by a life form," Alion said softly.

"What happens to that life form," the Doctor asked him, certain that he knew. If Alion hadn't brought it up at first than the outcome couldn't be good.

"They die," he said.

"There has to be another way," the Doctor shook his head. "No one is dying in here today."

"You won't get out," Alion said.

"Impossible is my specialty, don't worry," the Doctor turned to Donna.

"What do we need," she asked him in an attempt to coax an idea to the surface.

"Short of my screwdriver?" He asked more to himself, before including Donna. "We need something that resembles a life form."

"What kind of current is it?" Donna asked.

He gave her his 'that's brilliant' smile and looked to Alion.

"Ailment," he said.

"I thought," the Doctor began.

"They had some time to work on it," Alion told him. "Figured out a way to stabilize it, based on the way our bodies held it. If it wasn't so awful it would be amazing."

"Ailment," the Doctor muttered to himself, when he realized something. "It can't be a normal life, can it? Because the only way to short circuit it would be to apply the same source of energy."

"And that's me," Alion agreed. "Bursting with it in fact."

"It's not happening," Donna told him. "The Doctor figure this out, right Doctor?"

He nodded absently, "Of course."

Donna moved closer, pressing her side gently into his. He moved his arm around and pulled her closer, resting his head on the top of hers. She smelled like home. She smelled of red grass and two suns, and it did little to help him think but he couldn't pull away from her. Alion was looking at the barrier intently.

"Don't you dare," the Doctor warned him, sensing the boy making talking himself into just doing it.

"It would be an honor," Alion stood.

"I said don't," the Doctor released Donna feeling the loss of contact profoundly, but it had to be done. He could hold her when they got back to the TARDIS. They really needed to talk anyway.

"It's been such a long time, and I'm so very tired, Doctor."

"But there is so much more."

"I wasn't mean to live forever, Doctor. And these years, well they haven't been wasted. I have lived them to the best of my ability but I don't need three hundred more. I don't want three hundred more." He tried to explain.

The Doctor looked at him carefully. His face was that of a child, but his words, well they could only be spoken by someone who had seen too much. His words were of an old man, who just wanted to lie down and rest.

"I won't watch you die, there is another way. I just need time to figure it out."

"Please, Doctor. I want to close my eyes, and just rest."

"What about a family?"

"I got married to a woman on the ship, her name was Lilin," his voice caught. "As far as I could tell, she was the reason for the universe."

"Don't you want to live for her," Donna asked softly, as though she knew an answer but was waiting on the question.

"Oh I would," he agreed. "I would have lived a million life times if I got to live them with her. But they killed her. When they were first trying to extract the anti-aging mutation, they did it wrong. And they let her come home to me, and she died in my arms hours later."

"I'm so sorry," the Doctor told him.

"I've lived without her," he spoke softly. "I tried to make the years count, because I thought she would want me to go on. But there is nothing out there for me. I don't want to love any else. I want to quit while I'm ahead. Because days are coming when I won't be."

"Alion," the Doctor pleaded.

"It's my honor," he said again. "I could have done this weeks ago, but I wanted to wait until it could help someone else. I want my last breath to be an act of giving. Go out with a bang, as it should be."


	4. Chapter 4

The Doctor stood in the way of Alion, and Donna had risen as well, more than willing to try to stop him if she was needed. The Doctor didn't have the words, didn't have an answer that Alion would want to hear. He tried to tell him there was something worth living for, but he knew from experience that wasn't always something you could believe. Not when you were at the bottom.

"Doctor," Alion tried, "Really, this is what I want. I feel like you can understand what it's like to want to just quit. Please, just let me do this."

"I can't," the Doctor told him. "I won't watch you die."

He didn't want Alion to die, but this was also selfish. He didn't want another person dying in his name. The weight was getting to be too much to carry, and he didn't know that he could handle it. He knew, without a doubt that there would be others, but he would never stop trying to prevent that.

"Alion," Donna stepped closer to him slowly. "What made you fall in love with Lilin?"

Alion looked at her, his stance relaxing which the Doctor mirrored though he didn't move away from his spot.

"She was so beautiful," he spoke softly. "I mean on the outside, but more than that. She just shined beauty, like her soul was light. You know what I mean?"

"Yes," Donna agreed, and looked at the Doctor, who smiled at her.

He knew what Alion meant. Donna wasn't the first person that he had seen it in but he saw it even now. As she tried to help this stranger, this man so much older than her, but in this moment needed someone just like her.

"She asked me on a date, our second night on the ship," he moved back to the wall and slid down slowly sitting on the packed dirt once again.

The Doctor doubted that he had given up on the death idea, but at least for the moment he seemed content to talk about the woman he had loved so dearly. The Doctor took the risk and moved back to Donna's side. He sat down next to her but didn't hold her like he wanted. He didn't want to make Alion feel alone in this cell.

"Like a girl in charge," Donna prompted.

"I..I don't know. I was just sort of finding my own way, and I was young and in a place I didn't want to be," he admitted. "But I didn't want to say no to her, and I didn't."

"What did you guys do," the Doctor asked this time.

"We were on the ship, so there wasn't much, but Lilin was on the security team, and she had access to a viewing room. We ate dinner in there, watching the beauty that we passed."

"That sounds nice," Donna told him.

"It was, and through it all, we were always at each other's side. Losing her was like losing me. Except I didn't get to fade out, I had to keep going."

"Sometimes, living seems like such a punishment," the Doctor admitted, not looking at Donna. "But then you see these small reminders, and every once in a while, a big reminder. And you feel this little bit of you remember what a joy it is to be breathing. To get to see and hear and touch every day."

Before Alion could respond they heard a noise outside and Alion snapped off the light, but it wasn't long before a light lit up the room outside the barrier. There was a small room, outside the clear wall and the Doctor saw a man enter the room and he gave them a wide smile.

He was shorter than the Doctor, with longer hair that hung over his face a little. He had on a jacket and a bow tie, and as he walked to the barrier he pulled out what looked very much like a sonic screwdriver.

"Don't mind me," he told them as he began to work on the controls for the wall.

It only took a few seconds before they heard the ripping noise and he stepped a little closer, where the barrier should have been to prove that it was gone.

"I have to go," he told them. "But first, you all need to know a few things. First Alion," he turned to the boy. "This isn't the end. Also her name is Silah, blond hair, blue eyes."

Alion studied him but didn't say anything.

"This situation," he used the sonic to make a circle above his head to indicate said situation. "Is coming to an end. Can't give details but it just needs a little more time. And lastly, Doctor," he looked from the Doctor to Donna, who he smiled fondly at. "Love her, Doctor. Love her well. Oh, and what could be the most important thing, Doctor, bow ties are cool."

He adjusted the bow tie slightly and then spun around and left before anyone had a chance to say anything. Donna was looking at him.

"Doctor?"

"I don't know," he lied.

She seemed to understand and let it drop. They both knew who he was, but they didn't know how long it was before he was him. And it was much better that way. He hoped it was a long time.

He spun around and looks at Alion. "So?"

"I guess," he started. "I guess I go on."

"Good," the Doctor told him, moving closer and pulling him into a hug, which the boy-man, returned. "Be happy, Alion. Make however many years you have left, brilliant."

When he released him, Alion nodded. "I'll try, and thanks."

"Bye Alion," Donna told him.

Alion waved and took off, and the Doctor turned back to Donna. "I'm sure he made the path clear if you are ready."

"Yes," she told him and took the hand he offered.

They both let silence hang over them until they got back to the TARDIS. Inside he sent them to the vortex and turned to Donna who was sitting and appeared to be lost in thought.

"All right?" He asked her softly and moved to sit beside her.

"Yeah," she agreed. "Doctor?"

He didn't give her the chance to ask a question, leaning in and pressing his lips against her softly, and then more urgently. "Donna, I love you. I've been scared, and a fool but I don't want to be either anymore."

"If he was…"

"Doesn't matter," he argued. "I want this for as long as we can have it. Do you?"

"Yes," she answered at once. "Doctor?"

"Yes, Donna?"

"What do you live for?"

He thought about it. There were a lot of things, in truth. "So many things keep me going, Donna. But right now, my hearts are beating for you."

"I may have only one, Doctor," she placed her hands over his chest, letting those hearts thump against her palms. "But it's yours. It has been since Pompeii."

He kissed her again. Time would stop them at some point. Everything ended. But for now, this woman, he would love.


End file.
